What Kind of Internet Speeds to Expect From Your iPhone 3G

I’ve been wondering what kind of speeds I should expect on my new iPhone 3G when I get it Friday. So I did some research and here’s what I came up with.

Short Answer: Fast

HSPA (AT&T’s 3G) currently has a theoretical maximum of around out at 14 Megabit/sec, but it looks like the “observed maximum” for the iPhone will be around 1.4Mb/sec. I personally tested a Samsung Blackjack in my town, which has 3G, and was getting solid speeds between 700 and 900Kb/sec down. This is compared to roughly 150 to 230Kb on EDGE on my iPhone, so I’m highly enthused about that degree of improvment.

It does seem like of bummer, though, since the Motorola Q supposedly gets like 3.6Mb/sec over AT&T’s HSPA network. So I wonder if they’re capping the network now that they’re about to have a massive increase in usage due to the iPhone 3G launch.

The great news is that in 2009 AT&T plans on doing a software upgrade on their towers that will take them to 20Mb/sec!